Bigger, Bluer, Messier

Feedback: Top 5 Lists

I received some very touching feedback from my friends regarding my previous entry: INTJ or What I Learned About Myself on Facebook. It seems that I may have been a little too critical of myself and that my adorable friends would actually include me on more than just their Top 5 Tattlers I Know list. I can’t express how touched I felt reading their lists and I wanted to share a few of them with the rest of you.

Without further ado:

“I think you should know that you’d totally be on my top 5 lists of people to ask geeky computer questions as well as the best place to go to a Star Trek convention…”

Thank you, and it’s true. For the record, the Origin conventions are typically the best Star Trek conventions, in my opinion. Had the Hilton in Las Vegas not shut down their Star Trek area (good bye, Star Trek Experience – good bye, Quarks – good bye, mini Star Trek museum – live long and prosper *sniff*), that one would have been my top choice for annual conventions. I’d also recommend the San Diego Comic Con. I believe it has a decent Star Trek cast turn-out, but I actually haven’t had a chance to attend and confirm.

“Any sort of sci-fi convention, comic book convention, or otherwise geek culture convention, where [Beth] will not actually offend anyone but won’t chastise me when I do. Even better, [Beth] will encourage my bad behavior and not judge.”

I’m completely flattered, because this comes from one of my friends who is a contributor to Sequential Tart – a webzine about the comic book industry written by women. To be considered in her top 5 conventions goers is quite frankly an honor since she’s been paid to go to the convention and write articles (not sure she took them up on that, but that’s another story).

Anyway, I hadn’t thought about how encouraging others in their bad behavior is a skill I possess, but now that I think about it, I guess I am fairly decent at getting other people to do bad things. I mean, I just tap into their need to do whatever bad thing they’re considering, and who am I not to get a giggle in the process. Is that so wrong? I’m just the little Beth that sits on your shoulders and coaxes you with “do it, you know you want to”. Of course personally, I’m not going to “do it”, because that’s both wrong and not how young (or old) ladies should behave.

Smoke break time. She’s excellent company and doesn’t complain about second hand smoke.

Again, I must say I am an excellent second hand smoker. And when I die of lung cancer, I’m sure the shocked response will be, “but she didn’t smoke!” Seriously, if you want to know what’s going on where you work, everyone in the smoking circle knows and what makes this group great, is the smoking circle defies job hierarchy boundaries – you’ll find the cleaning crew smoking away with your CEO and unless you’re a smoker, it doesn’t matter how much you pick up after yourself or exchange pleasantries with the custodians, you’re not getting anything out of them – smokers will not betray a confidence. The cigarette butt, stomped and smashed around firmly on the concrete, marks not only the end of the break, but an unspoken vow of silence. As a non-smoker, it’s a tough group to break into since you’re immediately thought of as suspicious and a word to the non-smoking wise who do want to hang out with this crowd – it’s usually better if you don’t approach them while sneezing, waving your hands frantically around your face and definitely, do not cough or whine about the lingering smell on your clothes.

With the most recent posts, it appears that I also hurt a few feelings by unintentionally excluding folks from the Top 5 People to Dispose the Body – my body buriers. So, let me smooth some ruffled feathers:

Tori – you made a great point, your family does own the funeral home in Chicago and you have the willingness and the know-how (thanks to the family business) to double-stack a body and bury the evidence. So, until the business is sold, I’ll gladly bump one of the Lynn clones and make a spot for you. Come on down!

Buddy – a decade plus of working in a prison certainly means you’ve been exposed to a lot of “how your master plan can go really wrong” types. My only hesitation is you’ve been policing the criminal failures instead of the masterminds, but I suppose we could give you a trial run and see where we’re at once the dirt is patted down. Of course, I can’t be there for the actual job thanks to the “ratting you out” I’ll invariably do if questioned. So, I will have to rely on Lynn to perform the “job” evaluations and get back to me with recommendations.

I must say, though, that I am a little disturbed that so many of my friends came forward to declare that they’d be really good at burying bodies. It’s a little disturbing, but I appreciate their ambition (there, there, nice sociopath). I also want to give a big thanks to my friends for letting me know that I was among their geek gurus whose good for hanging out for a smoke. It’s heartwarming. I love you guys.